Tonight is one of those games after which you come home, take a peek at the box score and lurch a double-take: The Lakers actually shot below 50%? Tim Thomas shot over 50%? The Clips won the rebounding battle on both ends? Box scores don’t lie, but they tend to obscure the truth.

Not taking into account the absence of arguably three of the Clippers’ best four players, bad defensive rotations were as responsible as anything else for the L. The Lakers hit 10 3PMs, the first one by Derek Fisher 30 seconds into the game when Brevin Knight decides he’s better off collapsing on Pau Gasol – even though three other Clippers already have – than he is out on the arc where, you know, he might actually be of some measurable defensive use. Corey Maggette is left alone to cover – I kid you not – four Lakers who are spread from one end of the arc to the other.

At the 1:13 mark, it’s either Knight or Al Thornton who gets crossed up, leaving the NBA’s only Jew with a wide open 25-footer at the top of the perimeter. Once Sasha Vujacic comes into the game, it’s an all-out bloodletting. This is the kind of lunacy that we have to endure [2nd, 4:57]: Off a Clippers miss, Vujacic rushes it upcourt along the near side. Maggette does a nice job of backpedaling, and it appears as if the Clippers’ quick transition D might avert a quick strike by the Lakers. With Maggette on him, Vujacic passes it over to Lamar Odom, being covered by Thornton. So what does Corey do as Sasha passes the ball? He doubles Odom 25 feet from the hoop. Lamar seems almost shocked that Corey left Sasha. As quickly as Sasha got him the ball, Lamar returns it. Easy open 3PM for Sasha.

Watching Knight and Dan Dickau take the bait time and again in the second half, it dawns on me that for all of Sam Cassell’s uselessness as an on-ball cover, he’s a pretty smart team defender. He usually knows where he’s supposed to be on the court – even if he doesn’t have the quicks to always get there in time. It’s the sort of thing you can’t fully appreciate until you watch the likes of Brevin Knight or Dan Dickau. Knight is a terrific ball defender, but the problem with the Lakers is that – more than any other team in the league – they don’t run the offense through their PG. Once Knight is off-the-ball, his basketball IQ drops, like, 40 points.

Now that the Lakers have five starters who are not just good, but top-shelf passers, they’re the best team in the Western Conference – and that’s with Bryant’s bum finger. With all the hemming and hawing I’ve heard over the past five seasons on sports radio in this town about Mitch Kupchak, the guy has done exactly what you want your General Manager to do: Recognize what kind of players your system values most, then go out and acquire them. Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, even Andrew Bynum relative to his age – all great passers and, by extension, perfect fits for Morice Winter's system.

Whatever shortcomings the full-strength Clips might have on the perimeter, the number one deficiency they’ll have to address during the offseason is their inability to pass the ball. Among the players under contract, only Shaun Livingston and Brevin Knight can be fairly deemed above-average passers. The Clippers’ wings are atrocious – and it’s fair to put Thornton in this category, though he has time to improve. Though Kaman is getting much, much better, he’ll never be Arvydas Sabonis.

Stagnation on the offense isn’t merely a function of a lack of creativity. When guys can’t move the ball to one another, there’s only so much you can do other than isolations. The silver lining: The Clippers have found a guy who can do that.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

Good news!

We have launched a new ClipperBlog.com site! You are currently on our old system & are viewing an archived page. We will continue to keep all 670 posts from our first 3 years on this archive site. Soon we will be closing the comments for each of these older posts.

Comments

The Lakers put on a clinic last night and made it look oh-so easy at times. Pau was playing with our guys as if he were up against a varsity team! If Kobe stays healthy I don't know who is gonna stop these guys outside of maybe Detroit at their best.

What became glaringly obvious to me - once again! - last night is that the Clippers' weaknesses are the same they had 3, 5, and 10 years ago. The perimeter shooting is beyond atrocious (1-13 from 3 I believe last night) and the ability to pass the ball in an efficient manner, starting with the PG, is close to non-existent.

Are Baylor/Dunleavy too stupid or simply incapable of remedying these shortcomings or what the hell is going on here?! How can other teams go out and get players that fill a specific need, like the Lakers just did with Gasol, and the Clippers can't or won't?!

Man, if there aren't some real changes this summer, starting with getting a new coach, I'm gonna have to try and say goodbye to this org at long last. This is just getting too ridiculous now and the Lakers ruling once again makes it even harder to swallow.

The Clippers suck so bad that no one even comments on Clipperblog any more.

I don't see anyone beating the Lakers this year. Sad, but true. That Memphis exec who gave away Gasol for nothing, as Ralph said last night the Lakers didn't have to give up one of their TEN best players, has no business being in the position he is in. He is a simple idiot who should be shining shoes in Tijuana. You would think that if you are trying to sell an asset, which is what is going on in Memphis, that the best way to go about that is not to destroy the asset to sell it. That's just me thinking though.

An observation: Sad thing is, Corey started the night off with some great catch and shoot moments. He was coming off screens and moving without the ball. Shortly after, he began playing is usual game of catch on the wing and go 1 on 1.

2nd observation: Add about 10-15 pounds of muscle to that silver lining and we'll get alot more contiuation buckets, as opposed to someone throwing their arms and legs up in the air and asking for fouls.

Also, there was some post game talk last night about buying out Sam. If so, and if maggs walks that's about 12-13 mil for a decent free agent signing (unless i'm mistaken). It could still turn out to be interesting.

Why does Duns run so many isos? Why is his offense so unimaginative? Why does he obsess over matchups? He's a tactical coach, but not a strategic coach. He has no vision for this team. That's why his teams will never be more than the sum of its parts. And most of the time, less.

Hoopshype has Chase Budinger as one of the top 2s in the draft. Any thoughts on how he might help the Clips?

Buying out Sam. Buying out Sam. Sam is going to have to BUY himself out. He has been paid I assume for every game of the season as the season has progressed. He is owed nothing that he hasn't been paid as far as I can see. He could walk away and each side could call it good, but the Clippers have a right to his services for the rest of the year and he is not just someone that they want to go away. So, that right to his services is a valuable asset and if SAM wants out then he should have to pay to get out of his deal. Or, more than likely get his next suitor to pay the Clippers to buy Sam out of his deal.

In case some of you missed this, Andy Roesser is hosting a conference call for seaosn ticket holders tomorrow at 1PM.

To register, all you have to do is email him your question and account #. Just go to http://www.clippers.com and click on the MVP tab at the top right of the page, then click on the link to email your question and account # to register.

This should be rather interesting cause if he doesn't cough up some solutions to this fine mess, Staples Center will be empty as hell for Clipper games next year.

ross is going to get 3-5 million a season from someone else... he is a spectacular defender. I think most of you underestimate his value.

(no this is not MD speaking, hahaha)

He is MUCH more valuable when others on the floor with him can score the ball. It's hard to hide his offensive deficiencies when nobody else can put the ball in the hoop.

Also, with EB and Kaman back there behind him on D makes him much more lethal a defender. he can play up on jumpshooters and not worry as much if the happen to penetrate. Right now, there is no 2nd line of defense, save Kaman-- and he cant do it ALL. When TT is your starting PF, you got problems on defense in the paint.

So my point is, most good teams have defensive minded specialits. Granted, we dont want him playing 35 minutes a game, or starting, but he does have value.

Program p, I agree that Mobley contract is hurting the Clips but Thomas has been showing up as of late. He is showing us his post game, now we need him to start hitting them 3's.

Inregards to the Lakers, I think if Kaman would of played it would of made it harder for Gasol to make all those easy points. Dunleavy should of kept Tim on him, he was making Gasol work. If Gasol has a big body on him he is not as effective. And they killed us at the point guard position. The Lakers did not have answer when both Corey and Al were on the court together. For some reason Dunleavy went away from what was working. He was trying to go inside with Williams and Powell.

ACD
you are smoking something really good if you think qross is going to get 3-5 million. He's an average defender with absolutely limited passing and rebounding abilities. As for offense, if he was shooting the ball on santa monica pier, he'd miss the ocean. In short, he sucks.

ACD, when Ross is in the game, the clips play 4 on 5 on offense. And his D has been less than stellar for more than a year. He has no O and is a shell of himself on D. You add it up, and he sucks. So does MD for continuing to play him more than 10 mins a game.

But yeah, thnx. I really thought the Clips played a great game. Also, thanx for proving that not all laker fans are obnoxious. Its always a great game when its LA vs LA so I hope will see another great game.

04/12/08 00:57:15

Add Comment

This item is closed, it's not possible to add new comments to it or to vote on it